The request in the meta post is for side-by-side editor/preview layout, as opposed to one above the other, to reduce scrolling to check output. This is the layout used by Discourse, for example. We don't want to make a change that only works in wide viewports, but there are several other things we could do that would be ok on both small and large screens. Ideas pulled from comments:
We could allow you to toggle between the two views, like when composing an issue on GitHub (see the "Write" and "Preview" tabs).
We could use a side-by-side view that uses the full width, hiding the right sidebar, at some browser width to be determined.
We could have a sticky option in the editor: we default to the current view, and if you check a "show side by side" option we switch to that and remember it in this browser. (This can't be a user-level preference because it's device-specific.)
We could divide the "active area" in two, independently scrollable areas one above the other (editing area and preview). The key point is that the preview should remain focused at the same point when it is updated, so you can have both the editor and the preview "pointed" to the part you're editing.
Giving people who have vast expanses of unused real-estate a way to use it better is great -- but that can't be imposed on everyone, so we can't just bake in a side-by-side layout. Yes, the edit diff is also side by side, which is a problem on phones. That might be ok for reviewing a diff but it would be painful for some for actual composition.
meta:289230 also related: meta:290775
The request in the meta post is for side-by-side editor/preview layout, as opposed to one above the other, to reduce scrolling to check output. This is the layout used by Discourse, for example. We don't want to make a change that only works in wide viewports, but there are several other things we could do that would be ok on both small and large screens. Ideas pulled from comments:
Giving people who have vast expanses of unused real-estate a way to use it better is great -- but that can't be imposed on everyone, so we can't just bake in a side-by-side layout. Yes, the edit diff is also side by side, which is a problem on phones. That might be ok for reviewing a diff but it would be painful for some for actual composition.